Doctor putting words to life

Staying sane at Medical School: an idiot guide

It might seem like quite a basic thing but my experience is that it doesn’t come naturally to all of us and can definitely be neglected. In my first year of medicine I muddled through but with no real plan of how to look after myself and believe me, it’s just as important as getting through the degree itself! This IS the end goal, but your health (and sanity) is a priory too!

Here’s a list of things that I do that might help you if you haven’t already got a strategy:

1- Exercise. I use to do this when I was really stressed and go running at ridiculous times of the night but these days I go as often as I can and it helps to relieve me of stress before things get bad.

3-Have proper breaks. For me this means going home. I use to think that this was a waste of time but now I see how important this is. There is only so much work you can do before you NEED a break. Medicine will NEVER tell you to have a break. There is always more to learn. But you need to give yourself a breather.

4- Allow yourself to question ifMedicine is for you or not. In my third year of Medical school I hated clinical Medicine. So I took a year out an intercalated. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I missed medicine a lot and this was the confirmation that I needed that this WAS what I wanted to do. Medical School is a hard and long process and if you have doubts it’s OK. Most people I know have questioned why they are doing medicine at some point or another. Give yourself a chance to change your mind. It’s not the end of the world. I think it would be a travesty to get to 5 years of Med school and have hated it all along.

5- Get a bit of perspective. This can be hard at the time. Our work can take over our lives, but in the grand scheme of things, if your biggest problem in life is your medical school exams, you are doing ok in life. (Well, this is what I tell myself anyway!)

6- Don’t suffer in silence. People don’t write Facebook statuses saying “I failed my exam and I feel crap about life”. But they do. These things happen. A lot. And if you do fail an exam, or feel really stressed, hear me when I say YOU ARE NOT ALONE and this crappy period in your life WILL pass and you will be better for it.

7- Treat yourself. I have a mantra that I say to myself which is “gotta look after number one”. That’s you! My Mum has drilled this into me and in an all consuming emotionally, mentally and physically draining profession this is crucial. How you define this is up to you but make sure you do look after number one! Medicine is important, but at the end of the day, you should come first.

Coctail. Candles. Running. Family. Friends that became family. How I get through Medical School.

Quite true, this is applicable when studying anything. Indeed, we tend to forget that when the mind is overloaded and the mental is being worn out, the body needs to get sweaty too. And yes, we still need to know what is going on out there. 🙂

Rebecca Angharad: My other huge tip would be to remember that failing doesn’t make you a failure. I think you’re so right when you talk about getting perspective – for me this means having friends & people I can talk to outside of the medical bubble (because medics will always talk about medicine…!!!) and it’s competitive and medics put a lot of pressure on themselves to do well and I just think it’s wise to remember that failing an exam doesn’t make you a failure. It just means you’re a person who failed an exam… ! sounds really silly, but I think if you’re in the bubble, for me at least, it was hard to always remember that medicine was something I did, not who I am….